Paper Swans
by imhookedonaswan
Summary: Paperman AU, Killian is bored and unhappy with his life and his job until some magic happens at the train station


Killian stood at the train station platform file in hand waiting for his train to get in, he sighed already dismally bored with his day. And why shouldn't he be? It was just going to be a regular day of filing, stamping, sorting, and even more filing while confined to his desk. He felt a rush of wind as a train rushed by and a lone piece of paper hit him in the shoulder before flying away again and a blonde woman chased after it. He watched her long golden curls bounce as she caught the paper and carefully placed it back into her own file, he caught her looking at him and he nervously faced forward scratching behind his ear. She was one of the most striking women he's ever seen all blonde hair and green eyes and long legs, he tried to think of something clever to say when another damn train came by and a piece of paper flew from his own file and into her face. Killian gasped and reached out and took the paper back, the woman looked at his face and then let out a small laugh, biting her lip. Killian looked down, (had he spilled something on his suit?) and then at the paper which had her lipstick smudged on it. Killian laughed and looked up at her to make a joke but he only saw her getting onto the train. She snuck a look back at him, he gave her a quite shy smile from his place on the platform and she returned it.

While at his work Killian tried to focus but he couldn't get his mind off the beautiful woman he met at the train station. He stared at the lipstick stained form on his desk, thinking of the way her lips turned up and the way her eyes sparkled with those small shy smiles she gave him. His thoughts were interrupted when his boss Mr. Gold unceremoniously dropped a large stack of papers on his desk with stern instructions that they were to be alphabetized and sorted by the end of the day. Killian sighed and ran a hand through his hair, god he hated this job, the only respite being that he had a desk near the window. He plucked a form from the top of the pile when a gust of wind came through the window threatening to take the lipstick stained one with it. Killian made a mad grab at it before it flew out the window and caught sight of long blonde hair in the office across from his. It was her! The woman from the train station, he had to get her attention! He opened the window and waved his arms, not caring if he looked like an absolute bloody fool he had to meet her. He heard someone clear their throat and felt the cool piercing stare of Mr. Gold from his office and guiltily sat back down. Killian stared at her lipstick and grabbed a piece of paper from the top of the stack and began to fold it into a paper airplane. The window to the room she was in didn't look to far he could definitely get an airplane in there. But it proved to be a more difficult task than he thought, plane after plane after plane failed to get her attention, either falling just short of the window or hitting just around it. At one point Mr. Gold forcibly made him sit down but Killian was on a mission to get her to notice him. He kept folding hoping that with this plane she would finally notice him.

Killian knocked over his empty inbox startling himself. He looked up to see everyone in the room looking at him in disbelief; even Victor, the guy who worked next to him, pulled his stack of forms closer to him. Killian looked over at the blonde woman and saw that she was rising from her meeting and shaking hands with the man she was talking to, Killian looked down to the last piece of paper, the lipstick smudged one, and folded one last paper airplane. He stood at the window ready to toss it when a gust of wind knocked it loose from his grip and it floated to the ground, Killian made a reach for it and spotted his target exiting the building across the street, her hair shining like spun gold in the sea of grey and black. He turned and nearly ran into Mr. Gold who was standing in front of him holding another stack of paper with a very clear "if you don't stop fucking around you will be fired" look as he slammed the papers onto Killian's desk. Killian flopped into his chair in defeat, he had been in this damned job for 3 long, boring, unfulfilling years and for what? He had nothing to show for it, Killian glared at Gold's retreating back and clenched his jaw, a sudden feeling of courage coursing through his veins and he rose from his desk and sprinted out of the office, ignoring the sounds of his name being called after him. He needed to find her, at the very least to know if all of this was worth it. He rushed out into the street, narrowly avoiding the oncoming traffic and loud horns, frantically looking for her. He reached the other side of the street not to find her but her lipstick stained paper airplane. Killian picked it up and felt the weight of what he had just done slam into him, he had just spent nearly an entire workday making paper airplanes to get the attention of someone he knew nothing about, he was definitely fired. Gold had never liked him, in fact Killian was pretty sure he despised him, but it was a job and he was able to pay rent and eat and live pretty comfortably, and he just threw all that away for a woman he didn't even know the name of. Killian felt a surge of frustration and angrily threw the paper airplane and stalked off, hands shoved into his pockets, in the direction of a newsstand. Hopefully he could find a paper and look at the want ads and get a jump on finding a new job. He stomped past an alley only to find her airplane flying towards him, he brushed it off without a second thought, but more and more paper planes came and pushed into him, turning him around. Killian was stunned, how was this happening? This defied all laws of nature and physics he was pretty sure. He tried to fight them off but more and more kept coming and pushing him towards... something.

_ Emma decided to stop and buy some flowers for her new apartment, she had just aced her job interview and wanted to reward herself with something nice. She leaned forward to smell some buttercups when a gust of wind blew a paper airplane into one of the bouquets, she stopped at looked closer at it and recognized her own lipstick print on one of the wings. Was it really the same paper that had blown in her face this morning while she was trying to flirt with Sexy Station Guy? Another gust of wind blew the plane out of the flowers and it circled around her as if telling her to follow it. Emma hesitated, this had to be insane right? But she felt compelled to chase after it, remembering what her friend Mary Margaret told her about having hope and taking chances. She took a deep breath and chased after the paper airplane._

Killian tried to fight against the flock of paper airplanes pushing and herding him around the city. He knew he had to look crazy but the more he tried to shake off the planes the more determined they seemed to be to get him where ever they were going.

_The plane lead her to the station and onto a train, Emma chased after it quickly apologizing to anyone she bumped into on her mad pursuit of a paper airplane. _

The planes forced him onto a train and into a seat, Killian grumpily sitting and trying in vain to shake them off. He honestly didn't blame the mother who pulled her kid away from him, he knew he had to look out of his bloody mind.

_The paper plane came to rest in a seat, Emma sat down and picked it up to get a closer look at it. There had to be an antenna or something on it, it had to be a flying drone thing with someone controlling it, right? They came to the last stop and Emma got off and onto the platform. She jostled the plane still in her hands trying to get it to fly again, surely it had more to show her. The largest gust of wind blew from behind her, Emma looked down to see more paper airplanes sliding along the ground or flying lazily around her._

Killian got off the train and looked up to see her, those blonde curls cascading down her back and she turned to look at him, her green eyes full of wonder and disbelief. He shook off the rest of the planes that clung to him and stepped towards her, offering her a small smile. She tucked her hair behind her ear and gave him a smile in return.

"So um I guess making all these airplanes payed off didn't it?" he said, nervously scratching behind his ear.

"I guess so, I'm Emma," she said holding out her hand for him to shake.

"Killian, nice to meet you. Would you like to get some coffee Emma? I know a place right around the corner," he prayed she would say yes.

"Sure," she said her smile widening as they walked off towards the diner Killian had mentioned. As they talked Killian knew for sure that everything about this mad day was worth it, just to meet her, to meet Emma.


End file.
